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Registration Issues

Welcome

The University's online registration system can do many wonderful things,
but some situations call for help from a living human being.
To learn what to expect, take a quick look at the material below,
and then browse the
Frequently
Asked Questions
on our Undergraduate Advising page.

Expert Intervention

Registration in undergraduate Math courses is overseen by
Professor Mark MacLean,
ugradchair@math.ubc.ca.
In exceptional circumstances, Prof MacLean can override some of the
rules built into UBC's online system.
If you need to add a course or change sections for one of the reasons below,
please email Prof MacLean
with the details.
Include your full name
(as it appears on your UBC account),
UBC student number,
desired course number,
and section number.

UBC Requirements:
The course is required by your degree program.

Employment Responsibilities:
If you have a job that makes a timetable adjustment essential,
you must have written documentation from your employer, on company
stationery, outlining your work schedule. Please scan and email this
documentation to
ugradchair@math.ubc.ca.
You may also be asked to produce the original.

Varsity Athletic Commitments:
If you are on a UBC Varsity team,
you must have a letter from your coach, stating dates and times of commitments.
Please scan and email this documentation to
ugradchair@math.ubc.ca.
You may also be asked to produce the original.

Inter-Subject Conflicts:
If you have a conflict between a math course and a course in some other subject,
send details to Prof MacLean.

Limitations

Every year, thousands of students take Math courses at UBC.
This makes it impossible to deal with requests based primarily
on personal preference.
In situations like the following,
students are expected to use the online system
to make whatever changes may be possible.

I want to be in the same
section as a friend.

I prefer a specific instructor.

I want to optimize [or condense, or rearrange] my schedule.

There are empty seats in the room.
[Section sizes are not determined by the number of chairs/desks
in the classroom.
The Department determines the student/instructor ratio using
other criteria.]

My instructor has given permission,
including my instructor has signed this official-looking form.
[Individual Math instructors are not authorized to make registration changes.]

Prof MacLean may not reply at all to requests for intervention
supported by reasons like these.

Dropping a Math Course?

UBC's online system makes it easy to drop a course yourself,
provided you do so before the add-drop deadline.
Dropping a
course after the deadline is not completely impossible,
if there are compelling reasons,
but nobody in the Mathematics
Department has the authority to complete such a transaction.
Students in this situation should consult the Advising Office
in their home faculty.